09III/09IV (093/094) Nuclear Submarine Thread

[Maikeru]

Well yes, higher quality imagery would be nice, but in its absence then, very clearly, a submarine is being launched TODAY at Huludao, it is the right length for an 09IIIB and the only other possibilities are EVEN MORE exciting! Whether this is 03 or 04 is more debateable but it seems very probable looking at the pics from this summer that something was launched, again, could only be 09IIIB or something more exciting.

 

[Blitzo]

Well yes, higher quality imagery would be nice, but in its absence then, very clearly, a submarine is being launched TODAY at Huludao, it is the right length for an 09IIIB and the only other possibilities are EVEN MORE exciting! Whether this is 03 or 04 is more debateable but it seems very probable looking at the pics from this summer that something was launched, again, could only be 09IIIB or something more exciting.

Yes, I agree with that. I wonder if one of the establishment defense media will do the task of taking a higher quality satellite image.

 

[antiterror13]

Even it is the 3rd one (hopefully the 4th), still very impressive though. It means that PLAN finally quite happy and comfortable with 093B. Interesting how many 093B will be produced before 095, any educated guess here?

I agree that 093B should be a new class, but PLA is always cautious of putting anything to a new class

I like this video, but not much we don't know about from this forum discussion, start from 09:00 is interesting

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

The first 093B was launched in May 2022 - Confirmed.

The second 093B was launched in February 2023 - Confirmed.

Assuming that there is no new 093B being launched between February 2023 until now, and taking what pop3 and Patch have previously mentioned regarding China's 14FYP submarine production plan, here's the projection till 2025:

	2022​	2023​	2024 (projected)​	2025 (projected)​
# of 093B launched	1​	2 (until Oct 2023)​	2-3​	3-2​
# of 093B total	1​	3 (until Oct 2023)​	5-6​	8​

With the assumption that all the 039B are meant to be launched by the end of 2025, that is.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

@Maikeru and @horobeyo on Twitter also did some revisit, and it seems that the 093B launched this time is indeed the 4th boat (with the suspected 3rd boat launched early this July).

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718651849241416083

For reference (photos taken in order - June 25th, June 30th and July 5th respectively):





If this information is accurate, then 4 boats launched in 18 months = 4.5 months per boat.

 

[grulle]

This is good news. But why would they stop at only 8 boats when the tech has finally matured and can be mass produced? is it because the type 95 will be coming online?

 

[sunnymaxi]

This is good news. But why would they stop at only 8 boats when the tech has finally matured and can be mass produced? is it because the type 95 will be coming online?

as per news/rumors. there will be two batches of type 093B and each batch consist of 8 Units.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1623500767872323587

Translation - It is optimistically estimated that Factory 431 will launch 2 to 3 nuclear submarines every year starting from this year, and 16 to 24 nuclear submarines will be launched by 2030, including 3 of the first batch of 09IIIB and 2 to 4 of the first batch of 09V. Therefore, the second batch of 09IIIB may be More than 8 ships will be added, and there will be a small number of orders for 09IVA/B or 09VI..

 

[Blitzo]

@Maikeru and @horobeyo on Twitter also did some revisit, and it seems that the 093B launched this time is indeed the 4th boat (with the suspected 3rd boat launched early this July).

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718651849241416083

For reference (photos taken in order - June 25th, June 30th and July 5th respectively):
View attachment 120748
View attachment 120749
View attachment 120750
View attachment 120751

If this information is accurate, then 4 boats launched in 18 months = 4.5 months per boat.

Those are the same images that were linked in this thread earlier in the year back in July, and we didn't have good quality images of the supposed 3rd boat back then up to now.

So to clarify, these poor quality images in July don't change anything, and absent of higher quality images we can't say that a third nuclear submarine (nor its class) was launched in July, only that it is possible a nuclear sub was launched then but lacking clear confirmation.

 

[antiterror13]

@Maikeru and @horobeyo on Twitter also did some revisit, and it seems that the 093B launched this time is indeed the 4th boat (with the suspected 3rd boat launched early this July).

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1718651849241416083

For reference (photos taken in order - June 25th, June 30th and July 5th respectively):
View attachment 120748
View attachment 120749
View attachment 120750
View attachment 120751

If this information is accurate, then 4 boats launched in 18 months = 4.5 months per boat.

Interesting how long would be needed from launch to sea trial/commission. My guess is that the first SSN would take longer.
Another question I have is whether the nuclear reactor is already fitted before the launch ? ..... I think it is most likely ..... which is very impressive to be able to launch the boat every 4.5 months including the reactor

I think will be 8x 093B, however 2x 8 is even better ... but I think after 8x 093B, the 095 will be ready

 

[gelgoog]

They sure are making a lot of these Type 093B considering they are basically new boats. They likely changed everything inside the boat. I was expecting just a small production run and them focusing on the Type 095. This is pretty impressive.